Posted on 08/26/2014 2:01:47 PM PDT by ConservingFreedom
NEW YORK Airline passengers have come to expect a tiny escape from the confined space of today's packed planes: the ability to recline their seat a few inches. When one passenger was denied that bit of personal space Sunday, it led to a heated argument and the unscheduled landing of their plane, just halfway to its destination.
The fight started on a United Airlines flight because one passenger was using the Knee Defender, a $21.95 gadget that attaches to a passenger's tray table and prevents the person in front of them from reclining. [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
“I feel sorry for people who are large/tall or need to work, but an arrangement should be discussed before you decide that the seat in front of you (which the person occupying it has purchased) should not function as designed.”
I agree with you, and I’m a tall person. Hey, I like to be able to recline my seat, too.
What the FAA Says
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was asked about the use of Knee Defenders.
As reported in the October 28, 2003 edition of The Washington Post:
“FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto said the clips were not against federal aviation rules as long as they weren’t used during taxiing, takeoffs or landings.”
Knee Defenders are specifically designed to be used with your tray table lowered, while your tray table must be up and locked “during taxiing, takeoffs or landings.”
So, as long as Knee Defenders are being used as they are designed to be used in flight, their use does not violate any US aviation law, rule, or regulation.
http://www.kneedefender.com/goods/kneedefender.html
Wink, Wink!
I don’t see quite how airlines can make them ‘illegal.’ They don’t have law-making authority. Someone suggesting fining the guy who used them ‘illegally’ but what authority allows airlines to fine customers? Unless they get Congress to pass a law, it all seems rather moot.
So long as we want these super cheap fares, we have to sacrifice the comfort of more legroom, that’s pretty simple; While reducing legroom, airlines should also limited the seats’ recline to a lower angle so as not to ‘intrude’ on the space behind.
Exactly. The seats are small enough, and now some jerk is making a device preventing the seat from reclining the few nanometers one now gets on a commercial (coach) flight?
Here’s an idea: for all those who can’t tolerate the dang seat going back a half degree into “their” space, buy a better seat yourself. That’s my space your taking with the “Knee Defender”.
When I buy an airline ticket, I’m paying for both the seat I’m sitting in because that’s where my butt goes AND the space in front of me because that’s where my knees go. People who recline ought to be levied a luxury fee for voluntarily appropriating additional space in addition to an inconveniencing fee for voluntarily decreasing the space of another passenger. It’s called theft, and if they don’t want to pay up, fine; ban them for life from ever again flying on your planes.
I’m no airline piker, having flown 162,000 air miles last year.
All of us who fly a lot realize reclining the seat all the way boxes in the person in the seat behind. That's why you rarely see a reclined seat among road warriors.
It's the folks who fly once a year who think flying is like going to a spa. They buy the cheapest middle seat, have a couple of drinks beforehand and feel they're entitled a barkolounger. The flights to Las Vegas and Florida are the worse.
I’m sorry maybe we are talking about different kinds of seats or airlines or something, or airplanes even, but I’m talking about coach seats on international flights. Maybe you are referring to business class seats or first class?
I don’t see how a seat that reclines literally 1.5 inches (at the top! Which means less by where someone’s knees are) is that much of a sacrifice for the person behind me. 1.5 inches for goodness sakes! This isn’t a barkolounger or EZ-boy we’re talking about here. Sheesh.
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